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Core cities in red. Satellite cities / suburbs in blue.
I think it will be another year or two before MSAs, CSAs and Urban Areas (all of which are a better measure of the de-facto size of SC cities, as are county populations) are re-defined. City lists like this are more trivia for the sake of trivia.
Still, there are a handful of intriguing things: if Charleston's contiguous urban area (on both sides of the harbor) was merged into a single city (Charleston, North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, Ladson, Lincolnville, Mount Pleasant, Isle Of Palms and Sullivans Island), it would be about the size of Raleigh, dispersed of a slightly larger area. Greenville's contiguous urban area would roughly be a little larger than Greensboro NC, but smaller than Raleigh. Columbia's contiguous urban area would be about the same size if confined to Richland; if the immediately adjacent parts of Lexington were included, with would be close to Raleigh-sized. Rock Hill's contiguous urban area would be about the size of Asheville (within Asheville's city limits only) or Greenville NC; Florence, Anderson and Sumter would be a bit smaller than that, but not enormously so.
Scoping out city-limits-only growth, I don't foresee any major changes in SC's top 5 between now and 2020, with one exception - Charleston is in striking distance of overtaking Columbia as the largest city, for the first time in - what - a century? Both cities have been able to annex, so I wouldn't bet on it, but I wouldn't be surprised either. And both cities growth percentages seem to be heading upwards.
Even within the difficulties of annexation in South Carolina, several cities have found ways of making the law work for them. Thus I am curious about the upstate cities reluctance to pursue annexations with the kind of vigor seen in Rock Hill, Columbia, the greater Charleston area, Conway, and Florence. I wonder - and this could actually be a good thing in a long-range planning kind of way - if the upstate cities are thinking more in terms of simultaneously (a) revitalizing the core cities, while (b) envisioning a more unified, cohesive regional growth strategy. I'm not familiar enough with those cities to know one way or another.
There are two other southeast Atlantic states with annexations laws as restrictive (or even moreso) than South Carolina: Virginia and Georgia, where annexations are nearly impossible. Cities in those states have found some interesting get-arounds: there are 5 consolidated city-county governments in Georgia (Augusta, Athens, Columbus, Cusseta, and Georgetown), one other municipalized county in Georgia (Fulton - where outside of Atlanta, nearly the entire balance of the county has been carved up / incorporated into some municipality or another).
In Virginia, the Tidewater "independent cities" (some of which cover nearly 800 square miles) were created through the mergers between towns (which have limited powers in Virginia's constitution) and the surrounding counties (Suffolk = Nansemond County, Virginia Beach = Princess Anne County, Chesapeake = Norfolk County, and Warwick County, which was divided into Newport News, Hampton and Poquoson). Upon the completions of those referendum-driven mergers, the entire county was re-incorporated as a "city" - or an "independent city" - giving it the powers granted (by the state) to both a municipality, and a county. The "county" then went extinct.
I wonder if any SC cities have explored consolidations?
Forest Acres and Arcadia Lakes both lost population. I think it's time for them to throw in the towel and join up with Columbia.
I think natural attrition (old folks dying) is what caused the decline in those communities because they dont have much undeveloped land and are both practically surrounded by Columbia. I doubt they would EVER join up with Columbia, because Columbia was the reason why they became cities in the first place- keep Columbia out. The only way they would join Columbia would be if they went defunct and decided to dissolve..which is what happen to the now defunct City of Eau Claire. It dissolved for financial reasons and its City Hall is now a community meeting center and Police Station. As we know probably some of the higher incomes in the Richland County reside with these jurisdictions.. so that likely not to happen either....would be nice though
Core cities in red. Satellite cities / suburbs in blue.
I think it will be another year or two before MSAs, CSAs and Urban Areas (all of which are a better measure of the de-facto size of SC cities, as are county populations) are re-defined. City lists like this are more trivia for the sake of trivia.
Still, there are a handful of intriguing things: if Charleston's contiguous urban area (on both sides of the harbor) was merged into a single city (Charleston, North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, Ladson, Lincolnville, Mount Pleasant, Isle Of Palms and Sullivans Island), it would be about the size of Raleigh, dispersed of a slightly larger area. Greenville's contiguous urban area would roughly be a little larger than Greensboro NC, but smaller than Raleigh. Columbia's contiguous urban area would be about the same size if confined to Richland; if the immediately adjacent parts of Lexington were included, with would be close to Raleigh-sized. Rock Hill's contiguous urban area would be about the size of Asheville (within Asheville's city limits only) or Greenville NC; Florence, Anderson and Sumter would be a bit smaller than that, but not enormously so.
Scoping out city-limits-only growth, I don't foresee any major changes in SC's top 5 between now and 2020, with one exception - Charleston is in striking distance of overtaking Columbia as the largest city, for the first time in - what - a century? Both cities have been able to annex, so I wouldn't bet on it, but I wouldn't be surprised either. And both cities growth percentages seem to be heading upwards.
Even within the difficulties of annexation in South Carolina, several cities have found ways of making the law work for them. Thus I am curious about the upstate cities reluctance to pursue annexations with the kind of vigor seen in Rock Hill, Columbia, the greater Charleston area, Conway, and Florence. I wonder - and this could actually be a good thing in a long-range planning kind of way - if the upstate cities are thinking more in terms of simultaneously (a) revitalizing the core cities, while (b) envisioning a more unified, cohesive regional growth strategy. I'm not familiar enough with those cities to know one way or another.
There are two other southeast Atlantic states with annexations laws as restrictive (or even moreso) than South Carolina: Virginia and Georgia, where annexations are nearly impossible. Cities in those states have found some interesting get-arounds: there are 5 consolidated city-county governments in Georgia (Augusta, Athens, Columbus, Cusseta, and Georgetown), one other municipalized county in Georgia (Fulton - where outside of Atlanta, nearly the entire balance of the county has been carved up / incorporated into some municipality or another).
In Virginia, the Tidewater "independent cities" (some of which cover nearly 800 square miles) were created through the mergers between towns (which have limited powers in Virginia's constitution) and the surrounding counties (Suffolk = Nansemond County, Virginia Beach = Princess Anne County, Chesapeake = Norfolk County, and Warwick County, which was divided into Newport News, Hampton and Poquoson). Upon the completions of those referendum-driven mergers, the entire county was re-incorporated as a "city" - or an "independent city" - giving it the powers granted (by the state) to both a municipality, and a county. The "county" then went extinct.
I wonder if any SC cities have explored consolidations?
Unfortunately, I think politics will keep any city or county from merging in our lifetimes. South Carolina is a rural state that is fighting urbanization.. so the annexation laws will not change. Ironically most of the State's population growth has been in urban areas.
Columbia will not allow Charleston to over take it. There is a war room in the bowels of City Hall that has the its bullseye set on NE Columbia and NW.. the sun will never set on the Columbia Empire and Charleston and Columbia will be locked in an annexation race from now and forever. Plus, Charleston is hemmed in by other Cities that have their own ambitious annexation plans..so they will be stifled at some point. Columbia only has to contend with Blythewood and to a lesser degree Forest Acres and Irmo. Eastover Arcadia Lakes are non starters..Cayce is a little brother nipping at Columbia's heals.. They have annexed a few prime commercial properties along Bluff Road, though the bulk of their holdings down there is swamp land.. So from a population standpoint they are are not much of a factor though they could steal some valuable commerical and industrial tax base.
Sumter grew by 2%? All of that growth must have been in the City Limits.. It was noted that the County also grew by 2%...so the City is the only hope for that County. I think Sumter is limited because many of the existing subdivision on the City's west side do not have sewer and the City may be required to put it in if it is annexed. If that were to occur it may be decades before they get the revenue back via taxes and my guess the City doesnt have the resources to invest in it.. though its population would leap into the high 40s. Most of Florence's gains were done via annexation of their cities south and western sides.. as the City marches towards I-20. Florence and Sumter are battling for king of the second tier cities. They have been left behind by Mt Pleasant, Goose Greek, and Rock Hill.. who are all reveling in their suburban status. Summerville.. who would have even thunk it...is larger than Sumter AND Florence...their gains likely through annexation as well as growth.
Greer, Anderson, and Aiken are making modest gains which is a pleasant surprise..
I have no idea why Spartanburg is losing population though????
Columbia will not allow Charleston to over take it. There is a war room in the bowels of City Hall that has the its bullseye set on NE Columbia and NW.. the sun will never set on the Columbia Empire and Charleston and Columbia will be locked in an annexation race from now and forever. Plus, Charleston is hemmed in by other Cities that have their own ambitious annexation plans..so they will be stifled at some point. Columbia only has to contend with Blythewood and to a lesser degree Forest Acres and Irmo. Eastover Arcadia Lakes are non starters..
Charleston is not hemmed in, at least not from annexing undeveloped land.
Though Charleston might become stifled in the year 2050.
Reasoning here is a bit flawed. To say that all incorporated cities around Chareston would give Charleston a population close to Raleigh ignores the fact that Raleigh is contiguous with Cary (130,000) and in a county of over 900,000 people and a CSA with Durham and Chapel Hill. Same with Columbia or Greenville's comparison to Greensboro, which is contiguous to High Point and in a CSA with Winston-Salem. These urban area in NC are much larger
Reasoning here is a bit flawed. To say that all incorporated cities around Chareston would give Charleston a population close to Raleigh ignores the fact that Raleigh is contiguous with Cary (130,000) and in a county of over 900,000 people and a CSA with Durham and Chapel Hill. Same with Columbia or Greenville's comparison to Greensboro, which is contiguous to High Point and in a CSA with Winston-Salem. These urban area in NC are much larger
I'm not so sure about that Greensboro csa to Greenville sc csa. How big is the Greensboro csa? Greenville sc csa is somewhere just over 1.3 million plus.
The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson combined metropolitan area comes to about 1.26 million. The Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point combined metropolitan area comes to about 1.6 million. But combined metro areas are different from urban areas anyway.
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